Horse racing cannot afford anymore of this nonsense around the whip – we need to move on with proper leadership

I’M so bored of the God damn whip.

In fact, if you catch me writing about the subject again from this day forward, you have permission to troll me on social media.

PA:Press Association

The whip has been a controversial topic for a long time in racing[/caption]

Sadly, because racing chiefs made it this way, it has again been the dominant story over the last few weeks.

In a nutshell, after carrying out a painstaking 18 MONTH review and confidently putting forward 20 new recommendations, the BHA this week performed the sort of screeching U-turn that would make Liz Truss blush.

The jockeys have got their way – they will be able to continue using the whip in the forehand position and the backhand only rule has been binned. 

As tempting as it is to shoot my mouth off, I will try to lay off the BHA a little today.

They’ve been getting a hammering everywhere else and I’d like to go a week without receiving an email from them asking me to stop being so horrible.

But let’s be honest, they made a rod for their own back in 2011 when they introduced a limit on the number of times a jockey could use the whip.

The science shows that the modern whip is not a welfare issue for horses, but by restricting jocks to a certain number of hits and placing strict sanctions on those who break the rules it suggests otherwise to the general public.

As well as scrapping the backhand only rule, out of nowhere they announced they were lopping off one stroke of the whip (the limit is now six on the Flat and seven over jumps).

This appears to have been done on a whim as a sort of token gesture, or perhaps it was an attempt to protect their fragile egos and save face.

I didn’t really lay off them, did I? So much for new year, new me.

The main point I wanted to make today was actually about the Professional Jockeys’ Association and whether it is fit for purpose.

The body that represents the guys and gals in the saddle have shown over the last couple of years that they’d struggle to organise a piss-up in a brewery.

They were represented throughout the whip review by two veteran jocks in Tom Scudamore and PJ McDonald and gave the new rules their blessing – only to realise later on the vast majority of their members were actually furious.

In fact, jockeys were so cheesed off that the threat of a strike became very real last month. They probably would have walked out but for the intervention of Ryan Moore, who appears to have single-handedly got the jockeys what they want.

Getty

The PJA in my view have offered pretty pathetic leadership ever since the Bryony Frost and Robbie Dunne bullying saga, when they handled the situation as well as Hugo Lloris under a deep cross.

During the dramatic hearing back in 2021, we heard how Dunne had repeatedly threatened her, swore at her and even on one occasion flashed his todger at her. 

But for several days after he was found guilty, the PJA refused to accept he had bullied Frost, only conceding that she ‘felt’ bullied, increasing her feeling of isolation.

The PJA chairman Jon Holmes doubled-down when he had the chance to clear the air on ITV Racing and chief exec Paul Struthers resigned shortly after.

This time last year, they also completely bungled negotiations with the BHA over the closing of racecourse saunas and the scrapping of a weight allowance for jockeys. 

It’s a dull subject and one I can’t be bothered to go back over, but take my word for it.

The fact is that there are multiple splinter groups in the weighing room and the PJA leadership team hasn’t got a Scooby Doo how to get everyone on the same page.

Until they have effective leaders in place, expect the same crap to keep repeating itself.

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